An international conference on "Biology, Chemistry and Pathology of Collagen" will be held on October 17-19, 1984, under the auspicies of the New York Academy of Sciences. During the past decade there has been an explosion of knowledge in the field of collagen with important implications in biology and medicine. We believe that it is timely to organize a conference that will allow close interaction between biologists, biochemists, and physicians interested in collagen. The three co-chairmen, Dr. Raul Fleischmajer, Dr. Bjorn R. Olsen, and Dr. Klaus Kuhn have been working in this field for many years and their specific interests complement each other since Dr. Kuhn works in collagen structure, Dr. Olsen is interested in collagen gene expression and Dr. Fleischmajer has been working in the field of fibrosis. The following subjects will be covered in this conference: (a) collagen structure with particular emphasis on collagen types IV, V, VI and VII (b) collagen genes, structure and regulation; (c) collagen biosynthesis including its regulation, post-translational processing; collagen synthesis by virus-transformed cells; collagen receptors and the role of monokines and lymphokines during neo-formation of connective tissue; (d) developmental biology of collagen with emphasis on cell-extracellular matrix interactions and collagen fibrillogenesis; (e) genetic and acquired diseases of collagen. The following genetic and acquired diseases will be discussed: Ehler-Danlos syndrome, Marfan's disease, osteogenesis imerfecta, epidermolysis bullosa, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, lung fibrosis, Good-Pasture syndrome, and basement membrane disease, including neoplastic processes. Each session will be chaired by an authority in the field and spontaneous discussions will be encouraged. In addition to the formal presentations, we anticipate two poster sessions, by invitation, that will add 40-50 brief reports to the program. We hope that every new basic and clinical development in the field of collagen will be represented at this conference.